A long time ago, for some reason my son was in class and I was not. He was maybe 13 or so, had been doing aikido since he was 5, and was not very big.

When I came to pick him up, I noticed that he was working with someone who used strength and size to stop every technique. Then it was my son's turn to be uke. "Uh oh," I thought, "he's going to do the exact same thing back to this guy" because of course that's what I would have done. But no, he was the same relaxed, committed uke he always is. To me, that was aikido.
Susan